Help Me!! Please!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shaky Tee
  • Start date Start date
Shaky Tee,
Thats a really cool song. Another thing you might want to try when doing the vocals over is to just use one of the headphones, on just one ear, and leave the other ear open to hear you without any music going through it. Sometimes that helps me out.
 
Musically, I like this song. Now, I am no expert singer by any means, BUT...ok ok I know, the issue of the vocals has been already addressed. Is it out of your range, because I know that I have recorded a complete song musically a few times and when it was time for me to lay down my vocal I just couldnt get it because it was out of my range...hey, it happens. Just take it down a step or two!!! I like the solo section.

The King
 
Other than the aforementioned vocals... the rhthym at the end totally falls apart (and some of those cymbal hits are really harsh). At the end, it almost sounds as if you're playing the drums by hand on a keyboard or something... (maybe because it was aboot to "retard" for the ending. )

My very serious, though somewhat harsh, (sorry :( ) advice for you is to take some kind of modern vocal lessons. This isn't just a "I couldn't hear the track" type problem. You have some fundamental vocal issues that evidence themselves in your songs. (Tempo also seems to be a problem.. vocally and with the keyboards) Sorry if that sounds mean, but if I heard someone play a drum track that sounded like your vocal tracks just sounded, I woulda told the guy to go take drum lessons. (same goes for guitar, piano, etc.) The thing is... at first I thought your "issues" were an "all encompassing" problem... then I listened to all your songs on all your different "alter-ego" sites and I noticed that your vocal style does seem to fit the "jazzy" stuff quite a bit better (and your performances were much better)... it's almost as if you're "out of your element" singing mainstream contemporary/pop (or whatever you would call this). I'm gonna take a wild guess... (so I reserve the right to be totally wrong here :p) and say that your formal training (or original musical upbringing) was with a more "classical" style... like jazz or.. uh... classical... :p Your inflections are kind of "operatic", while this song is,.. well... not operatic. :p So maybe the bulk of the problem is accustomizing yourself to a different style.. (thus the reference to modern vocal training, and not just vocal training in general)

(by the by, I liked the drums on Wiccan Love Triangle)

P.S. You have a problem with distorting your vocals a lot (and this happens on almost all of your songs)... the mixes are usually fine (for the most part) but, in almost every song, you have vocal clipping going on... you might wanna watch levels a little more closely on your vocal takes.

WATYF
 
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Thanks for your comments everyone. I pretty much have an idea of where to take this. And I would have started on this AGAIN this morning, but I was REALLY hung over. :D

WAYTF, I expect harshness. That's why I post my stuff here. :)

And you are right. Much of my vocal training has been in classical. In fact, since I've started working on my voice again, I've been reentering classical mode, so as to strengthen my vocal cords. This sort of thing can be good or bad, depending on your take. On the other hand, I grew up listening to pop and rock and R&B, and came to the jazz/blues thing later in life. It just gets hard sometimes relaxing into a white victorian tub, when you've spent most of your life in porcelain. :D

In any case, I realize I gotta modernize my voice a little bit.

Back to the drawing board...
 
hey.. you know what they say,..

"recognizing that you have a problem is the frist step to.... you know... not.. having the problem... or something.."


well.. ok.. so I just made that up... but you get my point... :D

Good luck with your vocals... I, on the other hand, am a hopeless case... my vocal chords just refuse to sing anything higher then a medium range... (and yelling is oat of the question.. as is evidenced by my recordings.. :p) my dad used to say that when they picked me up from the nursery at the hospital, they could easily pick me oat amongst all the other babies, because I was the only one that sounded like a moose when I cried. :D

WATYF
 
Been a while since I've listened to one of yours. What mic are you using these days. You have a killer voice, you'll hit the pitches eventually...

Sometimes when I focus on one song for too long the spontenaiety dies. Usually my best songs get pumped out in 48 hrs or so.

My advice would be to try something new and then come back to this.

My guess is your brain is sick of fighting with this and needs a break.

-Jett
 
Hi Helen:

I really don't have anything additional to offer (musically) in the way of improving this song other than what you've already been beaten over the head with by others. But I would like to offer a bit of encouragement and a nod to you. It takes guts, in my opinion, to write anything for others to review. You know you have problems, and I'm not sure we know how to fix them (yet), but you're still swinging the bat. You have intelligent and prosaic material, and one HUGE flaw. You could have deleted the post and the song and started watching TV or something. You haven't. Don't.

Keep Swinging,
-chris
 
Hey Jet-Rocker!

These days, I'm using an SE 1000 Condenser mic, with an ART MP Studio Preamp. It's been getting the job done for me.

Nice to meet you Chris!

If I don't keep trying, I'm never gonna make it. I'm not the world's best producer or mixer, so the opinions of others for me is crucial.

I've taken all opinions to heart, and posted a new version. I think it's about time for a new thread! :D
 
MUCH BETTER!

Are you sure that your first post wasnt a joke?:eek:

This is a 100000000% improvement.

GREAT job.
 
Excellent! NIGHT AND DAY difference. Vocals sound fantastic!

I'm really starting to like this song. I dig the chord progression at the change-up - awesome.

Listening to this mix, the only things that stand out to me now are ...

1) Vocals, as great as they sound, might be a bit loud in the mix (just a bit)

2) I'd like to hear the bass notes a bit more to fill out the bottom end (this is just my preference)

3) Percussion sounds a bit thin. Not sure what to do about it, other than maybe add something fairly subtle - maybe shakers, or something else subtle-ish.

Again, these are my preferences, add grains of salt to taste :)

Nice work!
 
Hey!! Thanks guys!!

Kramer, I swear to God, when I initially recorded this track, I could have sworn I was on pitch. I'm considering that, given the system and the souncard I was using at the time, that there might have been a serious lag issue when recording, especially since I was trying to do the 24-bit, 48K fidelity thing. I ended up reinstating my VXPocket2 for recording and monitoring and just using the soundcard I was initially relying on (my Tascam US-224) as a control board. To say that it made a difference would be an understatement, but I had some program issues with N-Track as a result (damn thing kept crashing on me...oh well).

Sean Morse, I listened to my mp3 this morning, and I agree with you actually on the bass and vocals. When I took the song down a key, I had re-render all of the midi files involved in the song, and I ended up rendering them louder than they were initially, so I had to remix the entire tune. I also HEAVILY compressed my vocals, so they seem louder than they actually are. I should probably also bring up the solo in the middle just a tad. The file is also alot quieter (probably the result of my fear of clipping).

I'm gonna go tweak this one more time and put it up again this afternoon. After that, I'm probably gonna lay off it for a while and have my buddy MA go at it with the drums. He's also probably going to bring in his friend mike to do a kick-ass guitar solo on it. :)
 
yup... I'm all too familiar with clip-o-phobia :)

I think real drums (guitar too) will really give it a bunch more life. I usually work with a drum machine too, until I've got it in the ballpark (don't have a kit at the house, so it's a pain to do).

Best O' luck to ya - looking forward to hearing the additions

:)
 
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